Nepalgunj, August 6

The shortage of Viral Transport Medium used for collecting and transporting swab samples has hit the health offices in Banke.

The local levels bought the VTMs and offered them to health offices as they did not have it.

Mayor of Nepalgunj sub-metropolis Dhawal Shamsher Rana said the local levels bought the VTMs as the health offices did not have sufficient VTMs. He said the health office had provided 80 pieces of VTM instead of the 200 demanded.

The sub-metropolis had demanded the VTMs for the health office for collection of swab samples of the families of eight staffers, including the ward chair and 200 other persons who had come in contact with the suspects.

“The sub-metropolis bought the VTMs and called the suspects for collection of swab samples due to insufficient VTMs that the health office had sent,” said Chand.

He said that the sub-metropolis bought 120 pieces of VTM after the health office did not provide them. The swab samples of 198 people were collected among people’s representatives, staffers and other suspects.

Meanwhile, District Health Office Acting Chief Angad Bahadur Shahi said the VTM crunch had also hit Banke hard.

He said the VTMs could not be provided as demanded as the office lacked them.

He added that as many as 150 VTMs were needed on a daily basis. “We have VTMs, but they are insufficient,” he said.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on August 7, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.